Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

GOOGL opened at $302.28 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $319.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $289.81. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lane Brothers & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $855,000. Fund Advisors of America Inc FL acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $841,000. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Farmers National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 34.8% in the 4th quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 13,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,322,000 after buying an additional 3,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vericrest Private Wealth acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $518,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.